Review: Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross

“Incorporating suspense and romance, this contemporary, edgy, Grimm-based novel is an entertaining and well-written entry in the crowded but popular genre.”—Booklist

Mirabelle’s past is shrouded in secrecy, from her parents’ tragic deaths to her guardians’ half-truths about why she can’t return to her birthplace, Beau Rivage. Desperate to see the town, Mira runs away a week before her sixteenth birthday—and discovers a world she never could have imagined.

In Beau Rivage, nothing is what it seems—the strangely pale girl with a morbid interest in apples, the obnoxious playboy who’s a beast to everyone he meets, and the chivalrous guy who has a thing for damsels in distress. Here, fairy tales come to life, curses are awakened, and ancient stories are played out again and again.

But fairy tales aren’t pretty things, and they don’t always end in happily ever after. Mira has a role to play, a fairy tale destiny to embrace or resist. As she struggles to take control of her fate, Mira is drawn into the lives of two brothers with fairy tale curses of their own . . . brothers who share a dark secret. And she’ll find that love, just like fairy tales, can have sharp edges and hidden thorns.

My Thoughts:

Mirabelle is a young girl on the verge of her 16th birthday, desperate to escape her overprotective godmothers and search out her birthplace for her parents’ graves. She runs across some unusual people and discovers there’s more to the town than she ever could have imagined. Caught in between two very different brothers, she embarks on a path to not only discover her own destiny, but what dark secrets the brothers could be hiding that could cost her, her life.

If you go into reading this book expecting the cute and romantic Disney version of fairytale telling, you will be disappointed. Kill Me Softly explores the darker side of these classic stories that Disney managed to tone down to appeal to children and adults of all ages. Having read a few of the tales from the Brothers Grimm, I was very excited to see how the author would work them into this book and overall, I thought she did a great job of that! I thoroughly enjoyed the grittier aspects and the way the curses weaved into the lives of the characters. In the beginning I found it exciting to try to match the characters to the particular fairy tale they were associated with. Well known fairy tales like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty played a huge part of the storyline, but I also loved the little appearances from stories like The Little Mermaid and Rumplestiltskin. Some of the curses we see made me laugh where others were extremely disturbing, but there was definitely a good balance of dark and cute throught the entire novel.

Now as far as what I didn’t like, well I am not a huge fan of instalove. I do realize that as a fairy tale book that it may be somewhat expected, but I was not a big fan of the instant relationship between Mira and one of the boys. Even aware of the circumstances behind it, it just didn’t seem believable and bothered me big time. Especially the age difference. As far as the other end of the somewhat love triangle that was brewing, I quite enjoyed the progression of that relationship. There was a natural flow to their push/pull friendship. Their little spats with each other always left me smiling.

Overall I found this story enjoyable and I highly recommend it to fans of fantasy, fairy tales, and perhaps the show Once Upon a Time.

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DISCLAIMER

In accordance to the FTC guidelines, I must state that I make no monetary gains from my reviews or endorsements here on Forever 17 Books. All books I review are either bought by myself, won, or received in exchange for an honest review.